Den's Tea

Sipdown from the HH teabox! Sadly, I think this one was affected by other teas in the box, leaving it undrinkable. (No rating because of that.) It was about 90 seconds with very cooled water. Sometimes the sandwich bags do that. Hopefully none of the other teas are like that! The only reason teaboxes aren’t fun (except, you know, if they get lost). But I had another Den’s tea the other day that was PERFECT so I know Den’s teas are good. I invested in some of these though: http://www.ebay.com/itm/50-3-5×5-Ziplock-Stand-Up-Pouches-Bags-SUP-AA-Clear-Silver-/310658911232?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4854b6cc00 I put a tea that I could smell through THREE sandwich bags into this one and a couple days later, I can not smell this tea through this pouch at all. A good investment! And especially great for teabox samples!

So I need to stay up late tonight to work on a paper, woohoo :( Anyway, I somehow thought this was the perfect opportunity to try another tea from my Den’s Tea sampler. I really love genmaicha, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I think the matcha kinda takes over the flavor at first, but then the toasty brown rice notes come through towards the end. I really am liking this one, and it’s giving me a nice energy boost without overdoing it.

Will I order more of this? If I did not already have tons of genmaicha, I might. But I also kind of prefer genmaicha on it’s own without the matcha. I will consider buying this if I run out of my current supply of genmaicha.

Additional notes: I’m sad I let this tea linger around, as looking at past notes, this was probably the most fantastic green tea I’ve ever had. Now it’s all crumbled. And very old. But it’s still delicious. Probably not as fantastic as it once was, but now it tastes like just a “very good” newer tea might taste. I’m trying to balance out some older teas with some teas I’m trying for the first time. Believe it or not, I still have a few teaspoons from that Butiki teabox back in the day. All of them have unofficial names (not actually Butiki teas) so I can’t really write tasting notes for them, but they are still very much enjoyable. Back in the day, I think I just did one big tasting note for all my Butiki teabox experiences (though this one was just stored in the same Teavivre foil pouch as the Butiki teabox teas, not actually from that teabox.)

Another I’m trying from the Here’s Hoping teabox! This one looked delectable. I let the water cool for almost an hour, so I decided to have this one. The leaves are very thin and dark green. After 60 seconds, the cup is a bright yellow. The taste is AMAZING. This must be the best green tea, it is sweet, creamy, vegetal and the perfect amount of tangy. I was surprised that the fresh green beans I was eating were actually way sweeter than this tea though, since I thought the tea is so sweet and green beans usually aren’t. That makes it sound like the tea was astringent, but it definitely wasn’t.The second cup steep instructions are ridiculous though: boiling for 15 seconds. It seems like it would burn! So I waited around 20 minutes for the water to cool and steeped for 35 seconds — definitely too astringent, so I have no idea how the other parameters wouldn’t taste even more astringent. I should have stuck with the way I steeped the first cup! This is one of the best green teas I’ve tried! It seems like a milk oolong actually… I’ll be taking some of this one out of the box but leaving some in!

Finally reordered this tea! I went back to look at my old tasting notes and WOW I’ve already been here for two years? Time flies. I still feel like I have so much more to discover about tea, so that’s nice. Anyway, this reorder was long overdue. I don’t actually like straight up matcha all that much, but in combination with genmaicha (one of my favorite types of tea), I love love it.

I’ve been having a really hectic couple of weeks at work, so this tea has been perfect for my sleepy, confused self in the mornings. Unlike most other greens, this one doesn’t seem to be too picky about temperature. I noticed that I noted this in my tasting notes from over a year ago as well. I also wanted to add to my previous notes that it resteeps incredibly well. I think I had 3 steeps out of it before I added a tiny pinch more of tea to resteep another 2 times.

The unfortunate news is that 2 ounces did not turn out to be as much as I thought it would be. Maybe the matcha makes it heavy? Anyway, that is not so great news for me because apparently, I am really awful at reordering this tea even though I know I want more.

Sipdown! (114) I’m sad to see this one go, but it’s not exactly going out on a great note. It probably has to do with the fact that it was a bit underleafed and that it was the bottom of the sample. Today’s almost teaspoon had less rice and matcha than usual. This actually nicely brings out a grassy taste that was hidden by the toasted rice and matcha flavors before. However, this made the tea a bit bitter, which I never had a problem with before. Anyway, if I ever circle back to an order from Den’s, this tea is going to be close to the top of my repurchase list!

Backlog. Yesterday, I had an early start to classes, so I brought this with me in my tumbler. I have decided that I’m only going to bring less finicky teas to school, and I remember this one as being very generous. I’m increasing the rating because even though I’m pretty sure my water was too hot, it didn’t get bitter. I like the combo of the flavorful toastiness from the genmaicha and the energy boost from the matcha. I only have one teaspoon left, though, nooo!

I brought this to class with me today, and it was perfect. First, my basket infuser in my Aladdin travel tumbler unlatched itself somehow, so all the leaves fell to the bottom. Surprisingly, it did not get bitter at all. I also kept resteeping throughout the day and the genmaicha taste held strong. I think the extra matcha really helped clear my head at the beginning of the day. A very nice way to kick off a new quarter.

Backlog from yesterday. I went apple picking for the first time, so I had to get up early on a rainy day. With only a few hours under my belt, I opted for this tea because last time, the matcha gave me a nice little energy kick. Same thing happened yesterday. And of course, that comforting roasted goodness from the genmaicha. A perfect way to start off the day!

I like this tea. It has a nice smooth flavor and a good scent.

I love the tea typically served at Japanese restaurants and wanted to get some for my own. So a while back, I asked the waitress “What kind of tea is this?” and she stared at me for a second and replied “Green tea” in a “duh” kind of way. Well… thanks for that. Ever since, I haven’t asked anyone else. Anyway, long story short, I have finally have it with this tea!

This is the second sample that I’ve tried from the Den’s Tea sampler, and I’m really liking it. As much as I’ve grown to love loose leaf, sometimes it’s faster to just dunk a tea bag in some water in a mug. The tea bag immediately released some powdery stuff, which I’m assuming is some kind of matcha or powdered sencha. The tea was a foggy green with a sort of thick/milky texture (that sounds kinda gross, but it wasn’t!). The tea also has a bit of a seaweed-y taste to me. But I may just be remembering eating it with sushi so many times before. Overall, very tasty but a little weak for me. Maybe I’ll like the loose leaf version better. So far, Den’s Tea sampler 2 for 2!

A sad sipdown. I’ve been loving this tea, and I’m sad to see it go. There’s a bit of astringency today, but that may just be because I’ve been drinking a lot of tea anyway. I have a bunch of other hojichas now, but when I run out, I will restock this one!

Eek, I’m close to sipping this one down. Anyway, today I noticed that the tea has a slightly rosy tint to it. Also, I underleafed because it was either underleaf a little twice or overleaf a lot once with the rest of my sample. Not sure that I made the right decision, but at least it’s not gone yet!

After trying all the hojichas from the Yunomi sampler pack, I came back to this one to compare. I think that this hojicha definitely has a fishier taste, which sounds weird, but I think taste. The Yunomi hojichas (especially dark roast and smoky roast) definitely have that roastier taste. I like each for it’s unique tastes, so I may just have to order both this hojicha and one of the Yunomi ones.

So this seems to be my go to tea for my outdoor adventuring lately. Today, I brought this in my tea tumbler while going on a hike. My tea tumbler still retained some apple flavor from a previous tea, so I had a lightly apple flavored houjicha today. It was actually quite nice. The houjicha has a roasted, earthier flavor that balanced the light apple taste. It’s giving me ideas for blends in the future! Anyway, I now only have enough to make this tea one more time, sad!

Backlog from yesterday. I brought this with me when I went apple picking. At first, I was tempted to bring Mom’s Apple Pie from Davids, but I figured I might have an apple/sweetness overload. I’m glad I realized this ahead of time because this hojicha was the perfect roasted, savory complement to all the sweet apples, cider, and cider donuts I had throughout the day!

Backlogging from yesterday. Had this in the evening because it has less caffeine.. I still think it affected my sleeping a bit though. Anyway, I am stuck on moving on to other samples from Den’s Tea because I love this one so much. I especially really like drinking it while eating spicy Korean food. The roasted, clean taste nicely complements the spicy, savory food. I doubled up on the tea leaves because it seemed a little weak to me last time, and it was perfect. After I sample everything else from the sampler, I’m definitely putting in an order for more of this tea!

This is the first tea that I’m trying from the Den’s Tea sampler and the first time I’m having houjicha to boot! When I first opened the packet, I was greeted by a fishy smell, kinda like dried anchovies, which scared me a little. However, after steeping (only 30 seconds, how strange!), the fishy smell went away almost completely and it now smells more like genmaicha to me. The taste is a nice roasted, savory-type tea, which is just what I needed now that the weather is getting cold. I can also detect a bit of fishy taste. I was afraid from the dry leaf smell that that would be weird, but it somehow incorporates nicely with the rest of it all.

If the rest of this sampler turns out to be as delicious as this one, my bank account is gonna take a hit. A wonderfully delicious hit.

It is autumn, though it may not feel like it outside. The weather was nippy earlier this week and I was looking forward to enjoying some fall teas in actual fall weather. The chill did not last, though, it’s cold enough in my office that I’m going to pretend.

This was a sample I got from Den’s Tea when I ordered their $3 green tea sampler. I love hojicha – it is a strong savory tea. I normally buy it from the Asian market for cheap. Den’s hojicha was everything I already loved about hojicha magnified. The roasted flavor comes right on through. It brews dark, a lovely chocolate color, with a taste to match. SO GOOD.

Honey, I’m home!
:)
I am finally home from the wedding, which was beautiful, as weddings always are, & I enjoyed playing, as I always do. There was one small glitch, lol. The photographer was standing in the middle of the aisle, it was almost time for the mother’s to be seated, & I was going to play Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring for the moms to enter to. The Photographer turned around, looked at me, & nodded, which I took as a possible cue (although photographers don’t usually cue me), then I saw the wedding planner wave her arm from the back, which looked like a real cue to me, so I started jesu, only to discover that it wasn’t time yet, so I turned it into some improvisation & waited…sigh…until the real cue came. Otherwise it was all great, the bride was gorgeous, etc.

And the Cardinals own the central division in the National League! Yeah!

And this tea: I like it! I used to have some Houjicha in my collection, & I’ve always enjoyed its roasty flavor. What a great tea to use as a base for Genmaicha! It really adds to the roasty flavor, making it ever more savory & it is delicious. I almost feel like I’m having a meal in this cup, like a savory roasty winter root stew. Luckily, I’m actually cooking a real meal, breakfast for dinner, cuz I’m starved!

From the Here’s Hoping TTB
MMMM, it’s been awhile since I drank a houjicha, & it is perfect as a genmaicha blend! Beautiful & roasty!

This is very pleasant – roasty, earthy, and woodsy. It’s not at all vegetal or seaweedy, and in general I’d say the flavor profile is fairly subdued – it’s like a less exuberant genmaicha. I was looking for something straightforward and soothing this morning, and this tea fit the bill. I can see it being pleasant iced as well. In the interest of full disclosure, I did brew this western-style (3-minute steep) – I find it results in a more relaxing and enjoyable tea-drinking experience for me.